Cop creates charity to clear minefields
He is a tough cop with a big heart and he is on a mission.
Mandurah detective Tony Langer has made international headlines for his work clearing unexploded bombs and landmines in South-East Asia.
Now his campaign, stemming from a visit to Cambodia during a police bomb course in 2008, is set to become a WA-based charity.
Detective Sergeant Langer devised Imprint Solutions to support non-government humanitarian groups in war-ravaged Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand.
“Primarily in the past I assisted through donating equipment and training,” he said.
“Now I am in the process of establishing a not-for-profit charity, which will not just help one NGO (non-government organisation), but will take a very broad approach.”
He said the charity would be a way for Australians to donate to a specific cause.
“A lot of people are gun-shy about giving money to a charity because they don’t know where it goes, but with this you can see what people need and how to facilitate getting it,” he said.
Det. Sgt Langer has worked with groups such as Golden West and Peace Trees, which remove explosive war remnants in Cambodia and Vietnam.
“Some of these groups don’t just focus on demining,” he said.
“Peace Trees, for example, runs domestic violence centres for women and kindergartens in central Vietnam.”
Golden West made unexploded bombs safe enough for de-mining organisations to use to explode and get rid of landmines.
Det. Sgt Langer said that saved de-miners money and the funding could be used elsewhere.
The detective, knighted by the Cambodian king last year, is also filming the documentary Remnants of War.
It aims to raise awareness of the scope of work by demining groups, from education and support to land releases.
Det. Sgt Langer has devoted many hours of his time during 18 visits to South-East Asia, and spent more than $200,000 on the cause.
“Everywhere you look you can see somebody that has been affected by war in some way,” he said. “You see people with amputated limbs everywhere you go.
“The US dropped 11 billion kilograms of bombs in South-East Asia during the Vietnam War, and about 30 per cent did not go off.
“It is hard to know how many landmines are in the ground but estimates are about six million in Cambodia alone.”
In Vietnam, about 2.1 billion kilograms of unexploded ordnance is believed to be on the ground and in the water.
For more information, visit remnantsofwarthemovie.com or email tlanger@bigpond.com.
